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The Black Cats welcome north-east neighbours Middlesbrough to the Stadium of Light this Sunday with O’Shea expected to continue his midfield role with Seb Larsson (knee), Jan Kirchhoff (hamstring) and Lee Cattermole (hernia) all missing.

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, O’Shea added: “I’m not going to second-guess the manager, but I think centrally will be the main area.

“But if the manager needs me to play anywhere, I will always help out.

“Hopefully we will get the bodies back as quickly as possible, because we saw last season, when we had a healthy squad, the competition kept everyone on their toes and that was reflected in performances.”